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Honduras the Deadliest Place to Defend the Planet

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Honduras the Deadliest Place to Defend the Planet 1 HONDURAS THE DEADLIEST PLACE TO DEFEND THE PLANET JANUARY 2017 “Mother Nature – militarized, fenced-in, poisoned – demands that we take action.” Berta Cáceres 1971-2016 H NDURAS THE DEADLIEST PLACE TO DEFEND THE PLANET CONTENTS Executive summary ...................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction: The world’s most dangerous place for land and environmental activists ............................................................................................................. 8 Case study 1: The National Party president and her links to illegal dams ............ 10 Case study 2: Berta Cáceres, COPINH and the shady interests behind the Agua Zarca Dam ..................................................................................................................... 13 Case study 3: Businessman Lenir Pérez’s mining operation ....................................... 17 Case study 4: The massacre of Tolupan communities ................................................... 21 Case study 5: The Garifuna people and the powers behind Honduras’s flagship tourism development ................................................................................................ 23 Infographic: Who’s pulling the strings? ............................................................................... 26 What’s driving the attacks? ...................................................................................................... 28 The Facilitators: Corruption and Impunity................................................................. 29 The Root Cause: A lack of community consultation and consent ..................... 30 The Response: A failure to protect ............................................................................... 31 International aid and investment in Honduras ................................................................. 34 US aiding and abetting ..................................................................................................... 34 International Financial Institutions ............................................................................. 35 Risky business: Foreign companies in Honduras ................................................... 35 What needs to change for aid and investment ....................................................... 36 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 37 Recommendations ....................................................................................................................... 38 Endnotes .......................................................................................................................................... 41 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Dam construction is one of the main causes of violence against activists in Honduras. © Giles Clarke/Global Witness On 2 March 2016, armed men broke into moving address to a packed auditorium as environmental activist Berta Cáceres’ she was presented with the 2015 Goldman home in the middle of the night and shot Environmental Prize for exceptional bravery her dead. Cáceres had dedicated several in environmental activism. Dedicating her years to trying to halt the construction of award to: “the martyrs who gave their a hydroelectric dam on her community’s lives in the struggle to defend our natural land in Intibucá, western Honduras, which resources.” Berta said, “Mother Nature – threatened a vital and sacred water source militarised, fenced-in, poisoned – demands for the indigenous Lenca people. Less than that we take action.” Tragically, not even the a year before her death she had delivered a international limelight could save her. HONDURAS: THE DEADLIEST PLACE TO DEFEND THE PLANET JANUARY 2017 5 Sandwiched between Guatemala and Nicaragua on the > Tolupan indigenous leaders Armando Fúnez Medina, Caribbean coast, Honduras is blanketed in forest and Ricardo Soto Fúnez, and María Enriqueta who were shot rich in valuable minerals. But the proceeds of this natural and killed whilst taking part in a peaceful protest against wealth are enjoyed by a very small section of society. the passage of mining and logging trucks through Honduras has the highest levels of inequality in the their territory.3 whole of Latin America, with around six out of ten households in rural areas living in extreme poverty, > The Afro-Honduran community of Barra Vieja, who on less than US$2.50 per day.1 resisted attempts by police and government officials to forcibly evict them from their land, in favour of a five-star This report documents shocking levels of violence and hotel complex. intimidation suffered by rural communities for taking a stand against the imposition of dams, mines, logging or In the majority of these cases, the attackers were not agriculture on their land – projects that are controlled held to account, and the victims and their families were by rich and powerful elites, among them members of denied the protection and justice they deserved. the political class. The root causes of these abuses are Our investigations show how state institutions such as widespread corruption and the failure to properly the judiciary, military or police force are often co-opted consult those affected by these projects. to support the interests of companies and the people who have stakes in them. Although the government THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE TO BE theoretically has the power and resources to protect AN ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST activists, in practice a lack of political will, endemic Nowhere on earth are you more likely to be killed for corruption and undue influence from elites means it protesting the theft of land and destruction of the natural fails to do so. According to rights groups, more than world than in Honduras. According to Global Witness 90 per cent of killings and abuses against Honduran research, 123 land and environmental activists have human rights defenders remain unsolved.4 been murdered in Honduras since the 2009 coup, with countless others threatened, attacked or imprisoned.2 OPEN FOR BUSINESS Berta Cáceres was one of dozens of people Global Witness The examples of the murders of activists covered in this interviewed during a two-year investigation into the report are part of an epidemic sweeping the country, political and economic forces behind this killing spree. which has its roots in corporate greed, corruption, and Among the interviewees it was rare that someone hadn’t impunity for business-backed aggressors. They constitute lost loved ones, friends, colleagues, or hadn’t themselves a systematic campaign to terrorise local communities been intimidated or attacked. into accepting the theft and industrialisation of their The case studies in this report bring to light new evidence land, and a profound failure to realise people’s rights to of the corrupt and criminal acts that are driving this be consulted on the use of their natural resources. violence, allowing well-connected Hondurans to push Since the 2009 coup that ousted former president through their business deals at huge cost to whole Manuel Zelaya, a succession of right-wing governments communities and the environment. They include the have made mining, agribusiness and energy projects a stories of: cornerstone of the country’s economic growth strategy. > Ana Miriam and her sister-in-law Rosaura, both In 2011, a government-hosted conference proclaimed pregnant, who were beaten after reporting threats the country ‘Open for Business’. Foreign investors are 5 for opposing the Los Encinos hydroelectric project once again able to snap up mining concessions, water controlled by the husband of the president of the ruling resources have been privatised, environmental checks National Party of Honduras. Rosaura lost her baby as and balances have been diluted, and policies governing a result of the attack. how companies should engage with local communities are being ignored.6 The clear hope is that lax enforcement > Concepción Gutiérrez, who reported being threatened and a weakening of existing laws will encourage for refusing to sell her land to a mining company owned investment. by businessman Lenir Pérez. The international observers assigned to her protection were abducted. 6 While the main beneficiaries of this corruption are NEW EVIDENCE Honduran companies and individuals, the international Global Witness’ two-year investigation revealed community is complicit in this race to the bottom on numerous illegalities and alleged corruption related to rights and standards. The current economic development business projects causing violence against activists. model – and some of the most abusive projects – are Key findings include: backed by international financial institutions, whilst the Honduran government continues to receive extensive > National Party president Gladis Aurora López appears foreign aid, particularly from the US. From the capital to have a clear conflict of interest given that her husband Tegucigalpa, the US embassy has been promoting controls La Aurora and Los Encinos, two dams granted ramped-up investment in Honduras’ extractive industries, licenses when López was in Congress, in violation of with mining giant Electrum already planning a US$1 the Honduran Constitution. Local activists claim López billion investment. The country’s hydro and agribusiness staged a phoney consultation to try to push through the sectors are also seeing cash injections from US-backed Los
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